Two days ago I wrote about the very negative review that had been written in a LinkedIn group after the owner of a small company that gives tours of Old Wilmington posted a note promoting her tours.

At the time, I wondered whether the tour owner would respond, and I noted that one of the ways that The History List tries to ensure high-quality content is by requiring that those who post use their names (instead of a “user name”).

In this case, it looks like a policy of using real names was key to straightening out what appears to be a misunderstanding.  Here’s the follow up post:

After the critical review, I wrote Lori and asked her about her experience in the LInkedIn group and explained that we plan to add reviews to The History List.  Her response validated our thinking that the combination of requiring that people use their real names and making it easy for those responsible to respond to individual reviews addresses these sorts of problems.  Here’s what Lori had to say:

Yes, I think a review listing would be great.  It didn’t sound like that she had taken my tour. Not sure if that is a way to combat that.  I’m the only tour guide and I’m sure that I would have remembered a disgruntled customer.  I also do not charge for the tour until the end to give anyone who didn’t enjoy the tour a chance to speak up.

I think giving the company getting a bad review a way to respond is good.  In three years that was the first negative feed back I’ve received and I was glad that I had a chance to make a rebuttal.

If you have other comments and would like to send them privately, please do so.  We read all of the feedback and suggestions and take them into account as we continue the development of The History List.